How To Hockey

How to do the “Michigan” move

Remember back in 1996 when Mike Legg was playing for Michigan State, went behind the net, scooped the puck up on his stick and put it top shelf?
Fast forward 10 years and Sidney Crosby does a perfect repeat of the Mike Legg goal. The question is, what should we call this move? The Crosby move, the Mike Legg goal, the Michigan move? Call it whatever you want, because we are not here to name the move, we are here to teach you how to do it.
The Crosby move is a neat trick to do in practice, a skills competition, or even in a game! What you are doing is scooping the puck up onto the blade of your stick, and then throwing it at the net like a lacosse ball. The key to the Crosby move is to use centrifugal force.
If you don’t know what centrifugal force is, just think of when you spin a bucket of water around and the water stays in. We want to use that same force to stick the puck to the blade of the stick. I have broken down how to do this in five simple steps.
Lay the blade of your stick flat on top of the puck, leave a little bit of the blade hanging off of the back of the puck so you can apply pressure to the back of the puck and get it to tilt up.

Crosby Move

Now that the blade is in the right position you want to pull the puck back quickly but smoothly. Make sure the puck moves with the blade of your stick.
Once you have the puck moving backwards you want to apply pressure to the back of the puck by pressing down on the bottom of the blade. Think of it as pinching the puck.
This motion should get the puck up on the edge. Remember to move your stick with the puck. Throughout the entire move the blade of your stick will always be flat on the puck.

Crosby Move

Now that the puck is on edge you want to push forwards with the blade and begin to scoop the puck up.
Slow your stick down as you scoop the puck up and if done correctly you should now have the puck on the blade of your stick

How To Do the Mike Legg Goal

That’s it! Check out this video if you are still unsure of how to do the move.

Updated YouTube video – MORE TECHNIQUES!

A few more tips

  • Fresh tape helps the blade grip the puck a lot better
  • A bit of wax helps as well
  • If your tape is snowy or wet, it will be much harder to pull off this move

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